How to Appear Younger: Best Try Fasting

It seems many, at least over the age of forty, are obsessed with how to appear younger..And why not. Looking younger makes you feel more attractive and boosts your confidence. The answer may be simpler than you think. Fasting makes you look younger. 

What is simple isn’t always easy. Fasting involves not consuming food and drink (except water) for a specific period.  Both intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating have shown great anti-aging benefits. Through fasting you gain healthier, clearer, and more resilient skin, helping you look younger. If you fast regularly, you can use your body’s natural anti-aging processes and gain a more youthful look.

Here are 5 anti-aging mechanisms of fasting: 

• Reduction in Inflammation
• Cellular Autophagy
• Improved Insulin Sensitivity
• Hormonal Changes
• Oxidative Stress Reduction

How to Appear Younger With a Reduction in Inflammation

You can liken Inflammation to a fire that’s in your body. When your immune system tries to fight off things like infections or injuries you get inflammation. But sometimes, this fire keeps burning even when there’s nothing to fight off. This is called chronic inflammation, and it can make you look older.

Your skin becomes swollen, puffy, and red as a result of chronic inflammation. It can also cause wrinkles and sagging skin. This is because inflammation destroys the collagen and elastin in your skin, which are the components that keep your skin firm and smooth.

By reducing inflammation you help your skin stay firm and clear. When inflammation decreases, your skin can better repair itself. This leads to fewer wrinkles, less puffiness, and a more even skin tone. 

Actions like fasting and regular exercise can help decrease inflammation. Fasting does this by lowering the insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)  which in turn reduces the levels of pro-inflammatory cells circulating in the body.  This then gives your skin a chance to heal and remain healthy. 

Cellular Autophagy Through Fasting Makes You Look Younger

When you fast, a mechanism called cellular autophagy begins to clean up damaged parts of the cell like old proteins and broken cell pieces. Cellular autophagy begins when the cell detects stress, damage, or nutrient deprivation. This triggers signalling pathways that activate autophagy-related (ATG) proteins. Signaling pathways are an approach where a cell transmits signals from the cell’s surface to its interior.  Think of the entire process as recycling for your cells. This keeps your cells healthy and working well.

When your cells are healthy, your skin looks better. With damaged cells your skin looks tired, dull, and old. By cleaning up the damaged parts, autophagy helps your skin stay clear and vibrant. This process also improves the production of new, healthy cells. The new cells replace the old ones, making your skin look fresher and younger.

Autophagy also reduces inflammation. By reducing inflammation, autophagy helps your skin look smoother and healthier.

Fasting and Improved Insulin Sensitivity 

Insulin is a hormone that helps your body in using sugar for energy. Insulin resistance is caused when your body doesn’t use insulin well. This can lead to high blood sugar levels, which can make you look older by damaging your skin. When your blood sugar is high, sugar molecules stick to proteins like collagen and elastin in your skin. This process, called glycation, makes skin stiff and weakens skin structure

Improved insulin sensitivity means your body uses insulin better. This results in stable blood sugar levels. Stable blood sugar levels, in turn, help keep your skin healthy. Having high blood sugar can cause skin problems like acne, dryness, and wrinkles. It can also result in diabetes, which can speed up the aging process.

Hormonal Changes Through Fasting

There are chemical messengers in your body that control many functions, including how your skin looks, which are called hormones. As you get older, there are some hormones, like growth hormone and estrogen, which decline. This reduction in certain hormones can cause your skin to age which can result in wrinkles, sagging skin, and a dull complexion.

When you fast, changes in your hormone levels that help you look younger are triggered. For example, fasting can increase growth hormone levels. Growth hormone helps with cell repair and collagen production, which keeps your skin looking firm and smooth. Higher levels of this hormone can reduce wrinkles and improve skin elasticity.

Fasting can also balance other hormones that affect your skin. For example, it can lower insulin levels, which helps prevent acne and other skin issues. Balanced hormones means healthier skin.

Finally, fasting can decrease your levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. High cortisol levels can cause acne breakouts and other skin problems. By reducing cortisol levels, fasting helps you stay calm and your skin look healthy.

Oxidative Stress Reduction Through Fasting Makes You Look Younger

Oxidative stress happens when harmful molecules called free radicals damage your cells. This damage can make your skin look older by causing wrinkles, fine lines, and a dull complexion.

Reducing oxidative stress helps protect your skin and keep it looking young. When your body has less oxidative stress, your cells can repair themselves better. This means fewer wrinkles and a smoother skin texture. Healthy cells also help maintain your skin’s elasticity, which prevents sagging.

Fasting can help reduce oxidative stress. When you fast, your body goes into a state called ketosis, where it burns fat for energy instead of sugar. This process produces fewer free radicals, reducing oxidative stress. Fasting also boosts the production of antioxidants, which are substances that neutralize free radicals and protect your cells.

By lowering oxidative stress through fasting, you help your skin stay healthy and strong. This leads to a clearer, more youthful complexion with fewer signs of aging.

In short, fasting reduces oxidative stress, which helps protect your skin from damage. This keeps your skin smooth, firm, and radiant, making you look younger and more vibrant.

Eating Tips for How to Appear Younger

To complement the effects of fasting and keep you looking younger, it makes sense to eat the right foods.  

1. Antioxidant-Rich Foods: Include berries such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and even goji. Avoid milk products as they block the absorption of antioxidants.  Antioxidants are useful for protecting your skin from damage.
2. Stay Hydrated: Drink a lot of water and only water to keep your skin hydrated. 
3. Healthy Fats: Eat fatty foods such as fish, olive and avocado oil. Healthy fats, particularly fish oil,  help keep your skin smooth and supple.
4. Protein: Include proteins like chicken, fish, low fat low sugar yogurt and bone broth (which contains collagen) to support skin repair and growth.
5. Limit Sugar: Sugar can cause skin problems like acne and wrinkles. Opt for natural sugars from fruits instead or healthy sugar alternatives such as Stevia.

Keep your skin looking healthy and youthful by eating the right foods during eating periods.  

Conclusion: How to Appear Younger

While fasting isn’t all that easy to do, it does promote several processes which can make you look younger.  Cellular autophagy, reduces damaged cells and promotes new, healthy cell growth. Fasting also lowers inflammation, which makes your skin clearer and smoother. Better insulin sensitivity due to fasting helps keep stable blood sugar levels, which prevents skin problems like acne. In addition, keeps growth hormones and cortisol balanced, which improves skin elasticity and decreases stress-related skin issues. Finally, fasting decreases oxidative stress, which protects skin cells from damage and aging. These combined effects help keep your skin firm, clear, and youthful.  Younger looking skin in turn makes you look younger and more confident.

The great thing about fasting is it makes you look younger but will also help you lose weight, which will also have a big impact on how you feel about yourself.  Try fasting for 16 hours to start, gradually to 20 hours with a 4 hour window for eating each day. 

Check out Intermittent Fasting for Belly Fat: Simple Solution to Overcome fat.

…

The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the support and guidance of your physician when you are unsure about any health issues.